30 April 2013

Today my friend Shawn Callahan posted a list of the worlds best business storytellers. You can read it here.

I know of several of the people on it and think it's a pretty good list. But it seems flawed to me because it doesn't include Shawn himself, who I think is definitely worthy of being mentioned in this company.

So, without further adieu I give you the REAL list of the worlds best business story practitioners :)

14 April 2013

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when Keith de la Rue congratulated me on being recognised in the top 100 most influential people in #KM on Twitter.

Click on the logo to the right for more information.

It was an even bigger honor when I checked it out, to not only find that I was 17th, but more importantly surrounded by an amazing list of names in the industry.

I don't feel in any way worthy to be listed with them and I am aware that the Top 100 list looks at Twitter only, where I have focus much of my sharing efforts, thus leaving out quite a few very highly regarded people.

The thing that really stands out to me as an indication of the health of KM is the diversity of views and areas of expertise in the list. To me, Knowledge Management has always been the shoe-lace that holds the rest of the business together as it runs the race and turns the corners that management demands of it. It pulls Finance, Learning & Development, IT, HR, Corporate Strategy, Sales and Operations together via the Knowledge Lens and encourages collaboration and cooperation across time, distance and people. It does this encompassing both the formal and social interactions that make up the communications frameworks of our organisations, something that IT and previous iterations of KM failed to do.

It is long since KM was about technology & databases and while these things still play a part, a glance at this list shows that KM is really about people and they way they interact 1) with each other 2) with the resilience and goals of the organisation and 3) with the environment they coexist in.

But most of all, KM for me is about sharing. In this world of information overload and growing understanding of complexity, it is the way we learn to collaborate across teams, organisations and disciplines that is going to help us adapt to the needs of the future. Today, a piece of information about a certain solution can help my business faster than a 4 year degree's worth of knowledge and I get those nuggets through my network of KM practitioners and professionals. They share with me, because I share my useful ideas and findings with them, for free, and often in response to them posting a problem or issue they are trying to overcome. I guess that is what this list is identifying. I hope, whatever your job title is, that you consider joining us. Build a network of people in and around your life. Look for diversity in culture, trade, race, political opinion and expertise, then start helping people and you will see results. What you sow, you shall reap.

Thank you to Mindtouch for the recognition of the these fantastic people.

Finally, for those who don't understand the power of a professional social network, you are welcome to plug-in to a summary of mine and take advantage of my hard work setting it up. Each week, Paper.li summarises the top posts from my network of over 450 KM professionals around the world. You can subscribe to it here: http://paper.li/DeltaKnowledge/KM

About me

I am a Knowledge Management Consultant and also Facilitate the Knowledge Management Roundtable for SIRF. I help companies with expertise identification & mgt, collaboration, teamwork and knowledge systems to improve an organisation's performance and resilience to change.
I have completed a Masters thesis on Wiki use in Small to Medium Enterprises through the University of South Australia.